Surgery: Private Sector

Mr. Devine
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private operations were carried out in NHS premises in 2007.

Mr. Bradshaw
We do not have exact figures on private operations but we do collect information on finished consultant episodes (FCEs). FCEs are different from operations because they also include other interventions such as high-cost drug treatments, diagnostic imaging, testing and rehabilitation. The latest figure is shown in the following table.

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|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |Number|
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|2006-07                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |89,328|
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|Notes: 1. An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. 2. Data excludes a small proportion of invalid data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The Information Centre for health and social care.|      |
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